Stingl: Marine's long-lost painting turns up at a scrap dealer, but the owner won't let it go

John Zwolinski of Cudahy was the model for this plywood painting in 1954 when he and the other men listed on it served in the Marine Corps in North Carolina. Zwolinski sold the painting years ago and immediately regretted doing so. It was recently spotted at a scrap dealer's shop, where the owner doesn't want to part with it.(Photo: Photo by Larry Parent)

A long-lost plywood painting depicting a U.S. Marine named John Zwolinski in the 1950s was spotted recently at a Kenosha County recycling firm, and that's where it's going to stay, the scrap dealer says.

The painting hung on the walls of Zwolinski's Cudahy home and garage for years, but he sold it at an auction at least a decade ago. It was a decision he regretted immediately.

"Usually, it's buyer's remorse. This was seller's remorse," he said. "For all I knew, it was gone to the moon."

John Zwolinski flips through a scrapbook of photographs containing the plywood painting that was modeled after him.(Photo: Chris Kohley / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Zwolinski, then 19 years old, was the model for the artwork, painted in 1954 by another guy in his Marines squad in North Carolina. They were heavy equipment mechanics, keeping the bulldozers, cranes and other big rigs working properly.

All their last names were included in the painting, which was displayed on the building where they worked. But when Zwolinski left the Marines in 1955, the others insisted that he take it home with him.

Zwolinski married, had kids and worked in maintenance at Allen-Bradley for 33 years before opening a bait and tackle shop in Cudahy. He's retired now and 82 years old.

During some serious garage cleaning one day — "if it isn't breathing, get rid of it" — he took tools and other stuff from the garage, including the painting, to an auction at Serb Hall.

He doesn't remember what the artwork sold for, but someone bought it. He still has photos of the painting and how it looked hanging at the Marine base. Over the years, he made peace with his hasty decision to get rid of it.

"I never dreamed I'd ever see it again, but my daughter came over a couple weeks ago and said, 'Look at this!' "

It was a photo of the painting that Larry Parent, a relative living in Kenosha County, had spotted on a trip to Chicago Surplus & Recycling, located in Trevor, a small community near the state line.

While John Zwolinski served in the Marines in the early 1950s, a plywood painting modeled after him was created to represent his heavy equipment mechanic group "Heavy Junk."(Photo: Chris Kohley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Larry's wife, Debra, shared the photo on Facebook with Joan Megna, Zwolinski's daughter. Debra Parent informed Megna that she asked to purchase the artwork from the recycling place, but the owner declined. No dollar amount was discussed.

"This is a one-of-a-kind painting with a ton of sentimental value," Megna told me. "I would really hate to find out the recycling center tired of looking at it and tossed it out."

There's little danger of that. The owner told me he was given the plywood picture 15 to 20 years ago by a friend who found it at a Goodwill store.

It's hanging up near the scale used to weigh the aluminum cans and other scrap that people bring in. The owner likes that it says "heavy junk," which also seems appropriate to his business.

"I nailed it up, and it's yellow and bright and people enjoy seeing it. It's in the best place it could be. It's in the junk museum. It's on display to the public. What could be more fair?" said the owner, who has worked there 35 years.

He declined to give me his name, saying, "Now I'm going to get calls from people when you print this article about how unfair I am."

Customers over the years have recognized one of the six names on the painting — Pasi, Mickens, Voskuilen, Lipko, St. Pierre and Zwolinski — and asked to take it home.

"It wouldn't be fair to the other five guys whose names are on there," he tells them.

Maybe, but Zwolinski's scrapbook provides pretty good proof of his connection to the painting. He said his nickname, Ski, is visible on the pocket of the Marine dragging a gear across the wooden canvas.

It would be a nice memento for future generations, but he is not faulting the recycling center owner.

"I'd love to have it back, but I can understand someone else's feelings, too. If they acquired this thing and don't want to part with it, that's life," he said.

Zwolinski was far younger than the other guys in his Marine unit, so he assumes he's the only one still alive.

At the very least, all their names live on at a junk dealer in southern Wisconsin.